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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492147">Young Guns</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michalla_Lynn/pseuds/Michalla_Lynn'>Michalla_Lynn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NASCAR RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, M/M, Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:20:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492147</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michalla_Lynn/pseuds/Michalla_Lynn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a collection of short stories each featuring a different driver. Some of these will have relationships, some won't. Some will feature an original character, some will be slashes between the two drivers. Please feel free to share suggestions on drivers or situations you want to see written about. Read, Kudo, Comment! -Thank You</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. "I'm Sorry I'm Not More Attractive"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>-Alex Bowman-</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I’m not sure what kind of joke Ariel, my best friend, is trying to play on me but she has invited me out to a lake party with a bunch of her friends. Don’t get me wrong I love her, and her boyfriend Josh is great. But all of her friends, male and female, have amazing bodies. They are all attractive people, and here I am. Looking into the mirror in my bathroom staring at my own body, disgusting. I just bought a two-piece swimsuit for the first time since I was ten-years-old. Looking at the length of my 5’1” self I admire the burgundy high waisted bottoms with hibiscus flowers on it that match the top which has ruffle looking fabric that drapes down covering part of my stomach. Looking past the swimsuit I grimace as I grab the side of my stomach, pull, and squeeze. I put my hands by my ribcage, push down the fat, and watch it move. I want to gag at myself. I quickly grab a loose-fitting flowing racerback tank top that matches the color of my swimsuit. I look further down at my thighs and grimace as I shake them and look at the stretch marks covering them. I sigh staring at the two pairs of shorts I have out, the denim ones are longer, but I have to take them off if I want to think of going near the water. The athletic ones are a little shorter but I can keep them on in the water. I put those on, grabbing the denim ones and shoving them in the tote on my bed. I grab my bag unplugging my phone and looking down to see that Ariel texted me.</p><p>‘Josh and I are leaving now to come get you. Expect us in 15 mins’</p><p>I roll my eyes checking to see that it was sent 10 minutes ago. I sigh going back into the bathroom to grab a few extra hair ties knowing that my curly mess of hair will probably break a few today. Somedays having full curly hair is annoying, other days when I feel like straightening it, it feels great to see it hits the small of my back. Today though, my hair is up in a dutch braid falling to the middle of my shoulder blades. With a final once over in the mirror I grab my bag and phone heading off to the kitchen to grab my sunglasses. With a final look around my kitchen, I pull my blue chacos on, walk out my back door and lock up as I slide my sunglasses over my dull brown eyes. </p><p>Walking around my house I hear a car pull into my driveway and rounding the corner I see Josh's black 2012 Ford F-150 parked next to my Jeep. Ariel hangs out the window waving as I walk over with a half-smile on my face. I climb in the car as Josh says a quiet “hi” to me as I buckle up and we take off.</p><p>“Are you excited?” Ariel asks as she pivots in her seat to look back at me. The shrug of my shoulders has her sighing. “It’s just a small group of people. Alex, Daniel, Ricky, and William. Then of course Kenzie, and Erin. So calm down.” </p><p>With that being said I felt a little better, one there were way fewer people than I expected, and I won’t be the only single one. We spend the ride listening to music, Ariel singing as loud as she can and Josh glancing at her with stars in his eyes. This is how the twenty-minute ride from my house to the boat launch on Lake Norman continued.<br/>
Upon arrival I notice everyone else was already here; all of the guys with shirts already off and girls in bikini tops and short Soffe shorts. I grab my bag out of the car and grip it in front of my stomach as I follow Josh and Ariel over to their friends. The two of them go around saying ‘hi’ to everyone while I just stand there and give everyone a small wave. One of the girls comes over to me enveloping me in a hug before speaking.</p><p>“Oh, you must be Lauren-May. Ariel talks about you all the time. I’m Erin,” she tells me as we start walking to the boat. “That’s William,” she points at the blondest of the boys.<br/>
Nodding my head, “your boyfriend right?” As she smiles I add, “Ariel tried to fill me in on everyone who would be here.” Erin goes and sits next to William as we get on the boat. The boat has a captain’s seat in the middle of the boat off to the right side, occupied by Ricky… I think. Then behind the driver’s seat is an empty area with hooks where coolers are tied down. The back of the boat has a wide opening where you can get on and off the boat. Then around the left side of the boat to about halfway is bench seating. A break where there is another exit point to the boat and then the rest of the way around the front of the boat back to around where the captain’s seat rests is another bench seat. </p><p>Seeing everyone sitting on the bench in front of the captain’s seat, I decided to sit at the back of the boat. Ariel and Josh sitting closest to the captain’s seat, William and Erin next to them. The other girl, Kenzie, sitting next to them with room for one more next to her. The last two boys are still loading things onto the boat. Once everything was on the boat Daniel, Kenzie’s husband went and sat next to her. The last guy sits down on the same bench as her, but at the other end. </p><p>The next hour was spent with all of the guys taking turns wakeboarding and the girls trying to see how long they can stay on the innertube as Ricky or William drives the boat.</p><p>“Laurie come on the tube with me,” Ariel bounces over to me. I look up from my book with a slight glare. “PLEASE,” she half yells getting down near my face, almost spilling her White Claw on me.</p><p>“If you’re worried about getting thrown off I won’t drive too fast,” William says looking at me from the driver’s seat with a small smile. I slide my bookmark in my book and look up at Ariel with the stink eye.</p><p>“No isn’t an option is it,” I sigh. She squeals and grabs my hands pulling me up. I sigh looking at my feet as I pull my shirt up and over my head. With that done I turn to the back of the boat to look at Ariel as she is tying the tube up to the boat.</p><p>“Aren’t you going to take your shorts off?” She looks at me quizzically. I shrug my shoulders mumbling. “Can you say that just a bit louder?”</p><p>“I don’t need to, they are meant to get wet. I brought a change of shorts so your car doesn’t get wet.” I say just a little louder. She rolls her eyes before turning back to finish tying off the tube. With a sigh, I shove my shorts off and quickly sit on the edge of the boat to get in. Ariel looks at me with a shit-eating grin when she sees this. We both slide off onto the tube and float back away from the boat, gripping loosely.</p><p>“READY?” William shouts back. We both give a thumbs up before gripping tightly. I hear the boat rev before it takes off. As the boat goes and the tube gets jerked I let out a scream and squeeze my eyes shut. In what feels like seconds I can feel my fingers slipping and my eyes snap open and my whole body stiffens.</p><p>“SLOW DOWN,” I hear a male voice yell. I look up to the boat as I hear the boat slow way down, almost idling. The tall dark-haired boy, the quiet one, sitting at the edge of the boat looking out at us. My body loosens and I give him a grateful smile. </p><p>“THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN,” Ariel squeals in my ear as she slides off the tube. I hear the boat completely shut off before a bunch of splashing. I pull myself up onto the tube as everyone slides down into the water. The guy who got William to stop swims over and props his forearms up on the tube with his chin on his hands. </p><p>“Thanks for getting them to slow down.” I’m looking at my ankles with my arms almost straight down, messing with my hands. I said it so quietly I wasn’t sure if he heard me.</p><p>“No problem, you looked a little scared and I knew you didn’t want to be out there anyway. I’m Alex by the way.” He comments pulling his right hand out from under his chin and offering it out. I give him a small smile taking his offered hand. “Can I ask why you seem like you’re avoiding the water?”</p><p>“Um… I’m not the strongest swimmer in the world and I don’t like being in water where I can’t see the bottom even if I’m right next to shore or a boat.” I play with the ruffle on my bikini top as I let that sink in. Alex responds with a smile and slides around the back of the tube and starts kicking back towards the boat.</p><p>“Then let’s get back to the boat so you feel more comfortable,” he gives me a smile as he kicks hard. As the tube gets back to the boat I try to suck in my stomach the best I can as I climb up and grab my towel. Alex joins me on the boat pushing the tube back out to everyone in the water. Alex grabs his towel and wraps it around his waist sitting down near me with a beer in his hand. “So what book have you been reading all afternoon?” </p><p>“Oh…” I glance down at my book, “it’s called Sorrow Road, it’s the 5th book in a mystery series that I’m currently obsessed with.” I give a half-smile as I grab one of my twisted teas from the cooler. “It’s about an attorney in nowhere West Virginia and she always gets the weirdest or hardest cases to solve. In this book, she’s helping a girl figure out if her father with Alzheimer’s died a natural death at his care facility or if it was something else.” I rattle off quickly. “He doesn’t care what it’s about, he was being nice.” I think as I take a drink.</p><p>“That’s really cool. What is the series and who wrote it? I'd like to read it.” Alex says smiling as he takes a drink after his statement. Taken aback I give him a shocked look. He just smiles back at me some more while taking another drink.</p><p>“Do you want to borrow the first book before you decide if you want to buy them?” I mention after taking another drink. I lean sideways into the back of the bench as I bring my leg up to rest against the back as well and the other across the bench with my knee behind my other foot against the back.</p><p>“Sure that’d be great, I could give you a ride to your place to pick it up. Or I can grab your number and we can figure out when I can get it?” Alex rambles out quickly.<br/>
I look up from my leg, probably a little color in my pale cheeks, with a small smile dancing on my lips. “If you don’t mind giving me a ride home I’d appreciate that. I love Ariel and Josh, but I can only put up with those two alone for so long before I go crazy.” A chuckle leaves my lips. Looking out into the water everyone is splashing around and screaming. “Why aren’t you out there with them?”</p><p>Alex looks out at everyone with a small smile, “I wanted to get a chance to talk to you without everyone staring.” He looks down as he finishes his sentence with a pink tint to his cheeks. </p><p>I open and close my mouth like a fish for a few seconds, color definitely on my cheeks now. I look back out to everyone in the water and in a small voice I mumble, “I don’t know why.”<br/>
I feel Alex jump next to me and I turn to look at him, to see a sad look.</p><p>“Why wouldn’t I.”</p><p>“Well… I know the kind of girls you guys get to be around all of the time. I mean damn Ariel, Erin, and Kenzie look amazing and I know there are girls even better looking than that out there.” I sigh like it’s the simplest thing. Alex grabs my hands in his and rubs the backs of them with his thumbs.</p><p>“What is pretty about skin stretched over bone? Sure some of them have muscle, but those girls always have shit personalities or act like they deserve to be worshipped by just breathing. Ariel has said a lot about you and you sound like you have such an amazing personality and I want to get to know you more than just her impression of you. Plus, I think you’re gorgeous.” Alex says shifting in his seat as he talks, but not taking his eyes off of me. I almost laugh at what he says though it comes out as a snort, mostly because I might cry. I pull my hands back and wrap them around myself.</p><p>“Yeah right,” comes tumbling out of my mouth as a mumble before I can stop it. Alex takes it in stride, not even sounding exasperated like Ariel does when I get like this.</p><p>“I hate to say it but I have such a soft spot for short girls and you’re a whole foot shorter than me, I could wrap my whole body around you and protect you from the world. You’re the perfect height for your head to always end up on my chest. I’ve seen so many pictures of your hair in different styles, thanks to Ariel’s Instagram, and I can’t wait to see the frizzy mess that comes with early morning wake up calls.” He pauses to look me in the eye and make sure I’m still listening. I really am trying but I can’t stop tearing up. “Your eyes look like the center of freshly made brownies still steaming on the counter. Cuddling with you sounds perfect, no boney elbows to leave bruises on wrists and ribs. You’re a history teacher and probably have a million complex stories to tell to distract me when I have a bad race. And I can sit with you at the kitchen table following your quiz key as I leave more red markers on you than the papers we’re grading.” He moves closer and pulls my hands back into his. “Finn and Roscoe would love to snuggle with you as it rains outside and you’re cursing the tv as you see someone pass me on track while I’m hundreds of miles away but you have classes to teach come Monday and you couldn’t come. Everything about you screams perfect to me.”</p><p>By the time he’s done the tears are falling and I’m letting myself be practically pulled into his lap. I lay my head on his shoulder as he rubs my arms. </p><p>“I have never,” I hiccup, “had anyone describe me like that.” I finish with another hiccup. Alex just smiles into my hair and pulls me closer.</p><p>“That’s because they weren’t really looking.” I adjusted so I wasn’t in his lap but next to him, our legs touching, and one of his arms across my shoulders. He picks up my book from the other side of him and hands it to me. I settle down to start reading again, this time feeling his eyes on me. The pink never leaves my cheeks as we stay like this for at least half an hour before people start coming back to the boat.</p><p>“Can we do a couple more trips on the wakeboard before we call it a day?” Kenzie throws in the air. Pretty much everyone agrees. Alex takes two trips out, this time I watch though. I actually take the time to look at him, how you can see he has muscles, you can’t miss them, but that they aren’t the most prominent ones you’ve seen. I take the time to look around at everyone. Erin isn’t skin and bones, and Kenzie has a healthy weight around her hips and thighs. Ricky and Daniel both have two-by-four Esque body shapes, no chub but not well defined. William and Ariel are really the only ones that fit the stereotypical body type I was expecting everyone to have, Josh, coming damn close. As everyone finishes their last few rides and we head back Ariel comes and sits next to me.</p><p>“So you and Alex?” I roll my eyes.</p><p>“Maybe.” She squeals and scurries back over to Josh. With a sigh, I pack up my bag and slip my shorts and top back on as Ricky docks the boat. Everyone helps to separate the alcohol they brought and getting everything off the boat to the appropriate vehicles. Ariel comes over and gives me a hug and I wave as Josh and her drive off before I realize what’s going on.</p><p>“HEY” I shout after them looking around slack-jawed. Everyone laughs, Alex, shaking his head.</p><p>“I’ll give you a ride home.”</p><p>“Thanks, Alex.” “Best day ever.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. What Did I Do? What Do I Do?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>- William Byron &amp; Ryan Blaney -</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryan looks down pit road to where William and his sister, Erin, are standing and his heartaches. Yeah everyone knows the two have been dating, for 10 months now, but that’s not why his heart hurts. He overheard a phone conversation his sister had with her best friend the other day, she cheated on William. And while that’s going to be bad for him when he finds out it stings Ryan because he gave up his happiness for her.</p><p>What a lot of people didn’t know until recently is that Ryan Blaney is bi, yep you heard me, bi-sexual. And back in July Erin and Ryan found out they both liked the blonde Hendrick driver. Ryan being the “best big brother” simply told her he’d get over William and he was all hers. This for the most part was because Ryan assumed Will to be straight until a video came out in the offseason where William mentioned he was into both guys and girls. This came about from a Q&amp;A he was doing during a flight delay due to snow where a fan asked “where is the weirdest/craziest thing you’ve gone to kiss someone.” William told a story about kissing a guy in high school and how they were running away from the principal so they wouldn’t get caught.</p><p>“Back to the present Ryan,” Ryan shakes his head pulling himself out of his thoughts to climb into his car. The race really was overall uneventful and had the same ending as so many had before it. Ryan dominated stages one and two capturing the green and white checkers, leading 286 laps. But what mattered was Jimmie Johnson leading the last 44 and winning the race. Ryan finished 8th after a no tire call on the last caution. William running in the top 15 the whole race and finishing 12th, his second-highest finish of the year.</p><p>William sighs in frustration and heads back to his motorhome to shower and change, and after doing both of those things comes out to his living room to see his supportive girlfriend, Erin, waiting for him. With a smile, he falls onto the couch engulfing her in a hug and burrowing his face in her hair by the crook of her neck. Feeling her stiffen he pulls back and looks at her.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Erin looks up at him and rests her hands on his shoulders.</p><p>“This,” she gestures between them, “isn’t working anymore. I’m not in love with you. I thought I could work through it and the feelings would come back, but they aren’t. I’m not going to drag you around anymore. Have a good day, there is someone who deserves you and will love you the way you love them.” She gets up and leaves the bus without looking back. </p><p>William is left sitting on his couch staring into space. William doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting staring at nothing, thinking about nothing, before there is a knock at his motorhome door shaking him out of his stupor.</p><p>“William man, you okay in there?” Comes the familiar voice of Ryan Blaney. William almost doesn’t want to answer the door knowing damn well he’s going to cry when he sees him. How bad is it that Ryan’s sister just broke up with him and now all William can think about is folding himself into Ryan’s arms. </p><p>“I would be the unluckiest person to find SIBLINGS attractive and get screwed over by one of them.” </p><p>“William, man I just want to make sure you’re good.” Accompanied by knocking has William groaning and sliding off of his couch onto the ground.</p><p>“Please leave me alone,” he grumbles into his hands, resting his face in them.</p><p>“I don’t want to open your door without permission but I do know the code.” </p><p>William groans out again letting his head fall back on the couch, “let yourself in.”</p><p>Ryan sucks in a harsh breath as he hears William’s voice crack. He types the code in as quickly as he can with his hands slightly shaking. He yanks the door open and skips steps making his way in. The door shuts by itself behind him as he turns to look back through the bus seeing William’s state.</p><p>“Will…” It comes out as a sigh, Ryan’s heartbreaking just a little more. He sits down next to him just barely turning his head towards him.</p><p>“Why? What did I do that she doesn’t love me anymore man?”</p><p>“Don’t think like that man. You do not deserve to feel that way when she cheated on you…” Ryan didn’t get a chance to finish.</p><p>“WHAT?” William yells, voice cracking. Ryan sags.</p><p>“She didn’t tell you?”</p><p>“No,” William lets out in a whine, “She just said we weren’t working out anymore.” Ryan wraps an arm around William’s shoulders.</p><p>“Man… well, I don’t know everything that happened. I just header bits and pieces of a phone conversation. But apparently, when she went down to visit her college for her sorority formal this year she met up with a guy she had been talking to in college and they hooked up.” Ryan says as quickly as he can so William can still understand him. </p><p>William just slouches closer leaning on Ryan and letting his fall on his shoulder. He feels the tears stinging his eyes but he’s thankful they don’t fall. Ryan just sits there rubbing his back with one hand and keeping the other steady on his shoulder. After a few minutes, William looks up at Ryan a little sheepishly.</p><p>“Uh… sorry, Ryan. This has got to be really awkward for you.” He gives a half chuckle. Ryan just gives him a great big smile.</p><p>“Nah man, it’d be more awkward if I didn’t know what was going on and asked one of you about the other or something one day. I love my sister and I’ll beat up anyone who hurts her. But what she did was dumb, you don’t deserve that shit man.”</p><p>“I guess that’s what I get for going after girls again,” William says with humor in his voice and a hiccup in the middle. Ryan tenses momentarily at the mention before quickly relaxing hoping William didn’t notice. William did notice, at the same time as his stomach makes itself known. With another grin he looks at Ryan, “I should probably eat, I kind of forgot to do that after the race.” For the first time he’s looking around for the time, was it really already 9 pm.</p><p>Ryan shifts to stand pulling William along with him, “then we better go find some food. I can drive.” He gives William a smile. William responds with a small smile and grabs his wallet and phone following Ryan out the door. The two ended up picking up Taco Bell fast food before heading back to William’s motorhome where they spent the next few hours watching Spongebob and eating. </p><p>With a groan, William wakes up and sits up looking around. The first thing he notices is Ryan still passed out across the bottom of his bed hugging a bunched up section of blanket fashioned as a pillow. The sight brings another groan to his lips as he falls back into his pillows. “Good job Byron. You finally spend time with him and you let him fall asleep without a proper pillow or any blankets. Great job.”</p><p>William wiggles out of bed to use the restroom, brushing his teeth before pulling out his phone. Without thinking he opens Twitter walking into the kitchen part of his motorhome. Glancing down he sees 103 notifications. He leans down on the counter with his forearms pushing the bread down in the toaster clicking on the little bell icon. His screen is filled with tweets mentioning him and talking about Erin. People are tagging William in comments in one of her posts, tagging him in retweets of her post, and overall just their break-up all over his screen.</p><p>Scrolling through and finding Erin’s original tweet takes seconds and it leaves him with a strange feeling in his stomach. </p><p>‘Thank you for an amazing ten months, but this doesn’t feel right anymore. Still cheering you on.’ Is posted with a photo of William climbing into the car taken from yesterday. Flipping onto Instagram he finds the same post with the same caption, and another dozen or so notifications tagging him in comments on the post. With resignation, he flips back over to Twitter and sends out a tweet.</p><p>‘The memories we made will always be there. But it’s onto a new adventure with new people. Thank you for including me in some of yours.’ He closes out of the app and puts the phone down as his toast comes up. A little peanut butter and he’s nibbling away. Looking up from his food down the motorhome he sees Ryan make his way out of the bedroom. William can’t help but rake his eyes up the length of Ryan’s body as said man puts his hands behind his head and stretches.</p><p>“Morning” Ryan says with a bit of a yawn.</p><p>“Toast?” William offers. With a smile, Ryan accepts the offer with a nod, and two more pieces of bread are pushed into the toaster. “Have you gotten on Twitter yet?”</p><p>“No, should I?” William shrugs his shoulders as Ryan pulls out his phone. Scrolling through Twitter has Ryan’s eyebrows coming together and nose scrunched up.</p><p>“Butter, Peanut Butter, I have strawberry jam,” William offers as Ryan is reading through everything.</p><p>“Oh… um… peanut butter is fine,” Ryan mumbles shoving his phone back in his pocket. The two eat in relative silence before Ryan is gathering his things and shuffling out of the motorhome to pack up his things to head back to North Carolina. Right before he reaches the door he turns around and in a few strides is standing right in front of William. </p><p>Looking him in the eyes Ryan leans in and kisses him. The kiss lasts less than a minute before Ryan is rushing out of the motorhome leaving Williams standing there, lips tingling and shocked with a big smile plastered over his face. </p><p>Hours later William gets a text from Ryan.</p><p>‘I hope I can be a new adventure.’</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Wrapped Around Her Little Fingers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>-Ryan Blaney Story-<br/>P.S. I am so sorry this took so long, I just started a new job and it's been a learning curve juggling two jobs. Hopefully the next update comes sooner.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Emma are you sure? He knows he’s watching two kids you’re not surprising him, right?” Lindsey worries over the phone as she is strapping her daughter into her car seat. Her best friend Emma is in town after moving to West Virginia, and for once she’s not here solely to see her brother. </p><p> “Yes, I asked him if he’d be okay watching her too. I told him what she can do, what she needs help with, all of the important things and he said it was no problem. All the times I’ve come into town and not spent time with you because I was with Ryan or doing something for him. It’s his way of saying thank you.”</p><p>“Alright then, am I meeting you somewhere, or am I meeting you at his house. I just got Bailey in the car and if I don’t get moving too soon she’s going to start trying to get out,” Lindsey chuckles at the end of her statement.</p><p>“I’ll text you Ryan’s address, I just left for his house so I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.” She finishes as she hangs up the phone. A moment later Lindsey’s phone buzzes as the address appears on her screen in a text. She climbs into the front seat and buckles up before taking off. A look in the back confirms that she has everything that she needs back there. The GPS tells her that she is about a half-hour away and she relays that to Emma.</p><p>The ride is spent singing along to various country songs, mostly Blake Shelton as that is Bailey’s current favorite singer. </p><p>Daddy drove the wheels off a flatbed Ford<br/>Flies found a hole in the old screen door<br/>Granny said the dress that my sister wore<br/>To church wasn't long enough</p><p>Pulling into the gravel drive of Ryan’s house Lindsey spots Emma’s car and pulls in next to her. As she is getting Bailey unbuckled and out of the car Emma and Ryan come out and meet her.</p><p>“Hi, Lindsey, long time no see,” Ryan smiles coming out to give her a one-armed hug, rubbing Bailey’s head at the end. Bailey smiles and waves at Ryan clutching her unicorn stuffed animal in her right arm.</p><p>“Wow, little boy Blaney grew up. Finally taller than me,” Lindsey smiles through the whole sentence. This is true, she hasn't actually seen Ryan in person for almost 5 years and the last time she saw him they were about the same height. Okay so he was like an inch taller than her but she was always wearing heels so it never really mattered. Ryan just laughs at the comment smiling at her.</p><p>“Hurry up, I want to get going,” Emma says with a slight whine in her voice. That just widens both Lindsey and Ryan’s smiles. Making their way into the house Lindsey goes over things with both Ryan and Bailey. Entering the house Sturgill comes plodding over to Bailey sniffing all over her causing the small girl to giggle. </p><p>After settling Bailey on the floor, who is obsessed with poor Sturgill, and Louie in Ryan’s arms, the two women take off for Emma’s car. With a quick “behave for Mr. Ryan,” the women drive off now leaving Ryan alone with the kids. </p><p>The three of them make their way to Ryan’s living room, Bailey laying on the floor with Sturgill. Ryan sits on his couch settling Louie on his lap before reaching for the tv remote. </p><p>“Is there anything you want to watch Bailey?” Ryan asks, turning the tv on. Bailey sits there tapping the pointer finger of her left hand on her chin, her right hand still on Sturgill’s back.</p><p>“Mommy bwought my Littlefoot DVDs, can we watch that?” Ryan is taken aback at the sound of her voice, it sounds exactly like Lindsey’s from when they were kids. </p><p>“That sounds great Bailey, let me get that set up.” Ryan stands with Louie still nestled on his right arm. Unzipping Bailey’s backpack he pulls out the four DVD cases. The Land Before Time 1 through 4 on the first disk, then 5, 6, and 7 on separate disks. He makes his way over to his tv setting up the DVD player and puts the first disk in. He sets the volume high enough that they could hear it over any noise Sturgill could make but not too loud with Bailey on the floor where the tv would be louder.</p><p>The first movie goes without issue, Louie has been sat up on the floor leaning against the couch with some soft plastic blocks, and Bailey has moved to lay alongside Sturgill, who is enjoying life right now. Bailey uses her stuffed unicorn as a pillow for her chin while she’s laying out on her stomach. Ryan is relaxing on the couch scrolling through social media and texting Chase, Bubba, and Carson in their group chat. Mostly discussing their plans to meet up at the lake next week, since Carson has Wednesday off. </p><p>He’s still paying attention to the kids, taking time to move Louie’s blocks around to mess with him just to hear him giggle. Bailey on the other hand was in no way interested in Ryan and had her eyes glued to the screen unless Sturgill moved, then her eyes were on him.</p><p>About halfway through the second movie Sturgill moved to the door, needing to go outside, which took all attention off of the movie. With Ryan holding Louie in his right arm again Bailey followed them outside and waited rocking on her toes for Sturgill to pee before she ran after him. This sent Louie laughing and even made Ryan chuckle. He sent a snap video of it to Emma, who said Lindsey ‘awwed.’ Ryan sat on the edge of his back porch letting Bailey play with Sturgill for a bit. From chasing him to playing fetch to tug-of-war, before long the little girl was tired and ready to head back in. </p><p>“Are you hungry Bailey,” Ryan says over his shoulder, settling Louie down in the seat Emma brought to attach to one of his chairs. He buckles the little boy in before turning to his kitchen. Looking at the time, half after five, he figured she might want dinner not knowing when Lindsey normally does dinner.</p><p>“I’m getting hungwey Mr. Wyan,” comes the small voice getting louder as she walks into the kitchen. She makes sure to emphasize ‘getting’ in her sentence. Ryan inwardly chuckles at her struggle with ‘r’s, much like her mom when she was younger if he recalls. He turns around from the fridge to see she had climbed up into a chair near Louie. With Louie’s baby food in hand, he pulls one of his plastic bowls down from the cabinet.</p><p>“So, what kind of things do you like to eat? And I’ll see if I can make something happen with the food I have,” he smiles at her, as he scoops the baby food out into the waiting bowl before setting the empty container in his sink. Not worrying about cleaning it until he has all of the night’s dirty dishes. </p><p>“Well… it’s Tuesday and nomally mommy makes mac n cheese with hot dogs. But if you can’t do that we can figure something out,” she smiles really big mentioning mac n cheese. This causes Ryan to smile, and hope he still has that box of mac n cheese he bought during a 2am shopping trip with Bubba last month. </p><p>Opening his pantry he starts digging through the shelf he keeps his pasta related items on. Locating the box in the back of said shelf he triumphantly pulls it out and shows it to the small girl sending her into a fit of giggles. Pulling out a pot he starts the stove, puts the pasta in, just letting it go while he settles in to feed Louie. </p><p>Louie has finished eating by the time Ryan has the mac n cheese finished and hot dogs cut up. He grabs one of his plastic bowls and fills it about halfway up before grabbing a bowl for himself and filling it. Brinley bounces in her seat as Ryan sets the food in front of her and fills her little cup up with some apple juice that Lindsey brought for her. </p><p>After dinner was finished, both kids washed up and Louie changed, they settle back down in the living room. The Land Before Time 3 on the tv, Bailey coloring on the floor and Louie napping in his pack-and-play off to the side of the couch. Only minutes into the movie Sturgill is needing to go outside. Ryan leaves his door open standing in the doorway so he can see the living room and Sturgill at the same time. This time Bailey doesn’t react and keeps watching the movie.</p><p>With Sturgill back in the house and laying down near Bailey, Ryan retires to the couch. He starts scrolling through social media, sees Emma and Lindsey were at a nail salon an hour ago glad they’re enjoying girl time. He likes a few fan posts, photos of him from some races, and comments on some old friends' Instagram posts.</p><p>“Mr. Wyan?” </p><p>“Yeah Bailey,” Ryan puts his phone down and looks down at her. She’s holding up the page she’s coloring, one out of a Lisa Frank book. The page depicts a dog and she has colored it as close to Sturgill as her crayons allow. “That’s awesome! It’s so good B.” Bailey smiles and puts the page in the back of her book before flipping through pages.</p><p>“Do you wanna colowr too?” She asks looking over her shoulder at him. With a smile Ryan slides off the couch onto the floor, he couldn’t say no to that face.  The two pick out pages, Bailey’s a unicorn this time and Ryan’s two dogs painting a mailbox, and color together.</p><p>Almost an hour later when Lindsey and Emma get back this is how they find everyone. Louie on the floor next to the two watching the tv, Bailey and Ryan coloring bears, and Sturgill sleeping curled up into Bailey’s side. The Land Before Time 4 playing in the background all but forgotten.</p><p>With the movie turned off, everything cleaned up, and the kids packed into cars, Ryan tells Lindsey he would be happy to babysit anytime she needs it… and even if she doesn’t really need it. Lindsey smiles knowing Bailey has Ryan wrapped around her little chubby fingers.</p><p>Bailey is turned in her seat looking out her window the whole way out of the driveway waving at Ryan. Lindsey thinks Ryan might have her wrapped around his fingers too.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. He Keeps Me Safe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>*No Beta Reader*<br/>Thank you for continuing to read this story. Sorry it's taken so long to update, I don't have a working laptop temporarily so I have been using my work computer in between clients. I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Please leave comments if you have any story lines you'd like to see turned into a story.</p>
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    <p>-Chase Elliott-</p><p> </p><p>“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!”</p><p>“ME? YOU ARE THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN GOING THROUGH MY THINGS!”</p><p>“I WOULDN’T HAVE TO IF YOU WEREN’T COMING HOME AT STRANGE HOURS. MOST OF THE TIME IN MEN’S CLOTHING!”</p><p>“MOST OF MY FRIENDS ARE GUYS AND I HAVE TWO BROTHERS HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT I GOT MY SHIRT DIRTY AND BORROWED ONE?”</p><p>“BULLSHIT, IF THEY WERE YOUR BROTHERS SHIRTS THEY’D ALREADY BE BACK TO THEM.”</p><p>“OKAY BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK I’M CHEATING DOESN’T MEAN YOU MAKE A POINT OF SLEEPING WITH A GIRL. ESPECIALLY IN OUR BED WHEN YOU KNOW I’M GOING TO BE HOME SOON.”</p><p>“GET OUT. GET THE FUCK OUT I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU RIGHT NOW YOU BITCH. YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH.” He emphasizes his statement with a hard slap across Olivia’s face. Almost instantly a handprint appears and tears well up in her eyes. </p><p>Aaron stalks out of the room, probably to go drink on the couch. Once he is out of the room Olivia begins grabbing things to pack. Clothes from the closet and toiletries out of the bathroom pile up on the bed. All the while she’s texting a list of friends. </p><p>‘Please call me.’ </p><p>Pulling her duffel bag from the bottom of the closet she starts shoving her pile of clothes into it. On top of the clothes, she adds her toiletries. Midway through her phone starts ringing and she answers, not looking at who it is, voice shaking. </p><p>“Hello…”</p><p>“Liv are you okay?”</p><p>“Chase…” She can’t bring herself to say anything else with tears in her voice as she chokes on her words.</p><p>“I’m coming to get you. We’ll grab ice cream. We’ll go for a drive. Whatever you need. I’ll be there. Twenty minutes, max.” A car door shuts in the background right before the engine revs to life.</p><p>“Can… can you stay on the phone with me?”</p><p>“Of course. Do you need me to keep talking or do you need to talk?”</p><p>“Both? I don’t… I don’t know. I know I can’t deal with silence right now.” She finishes putting her important things in her duffel bag. With that, she moves on to shove the rest of her clothes into a suitcase. Chase stays on the phone with her carrying the conversation and keeping her talking. What seems like minutes later, but is almost a half-hour, Chase pauses the conversation.</p><p>“I’m outside, do you want me to come in?”</p><p>“No… I’ll be right out.” She hangs up putting her phone in her back left pocket. Laying her suitcase at the base of her closet she checks the room for forgotten items. Once over finished she grabs her duffel bag then rushes out of the room and down the stairs. </p><p>She approaches the living room and peaks around the doorway to see Aaron staring at the TV. In his left hand a bottle of Wild Turkey, the right clutched in a fist as he swears at the TV. A baseball game on, his team most likely losing as they weren’t doing so good this year.</p><p>She steals a breath and slips past the living room as quietly as possible. Once at the front door, she grabs her two pairs of shoes there in hand and slips out the door not putting them on. Once the door shuts she sprints down the walkway towards Chase’s truck. Shoving her things into the back of his truck she slips up into the front seat and shuts the door.</p><p>“Go. Please go.” She buckles her seat belt as Chase pulls away from the house. Finally, relief floods her as she feels safe. Pulling her feet up onto the seat and knees up to her chin she starts to cry. Not a soft cry, but a body racking sob that shook her whole being. </p><p>Chase kept glancing over at her, he knew stopping would only freak her out. So he kept driving, settling for putting his hand on her shoulder. Without a worry he sped up a bit, going an almost illegal amount over the speed limit. Throughout the drive, Olivia’s sobs got softer, quieter. After nearly 20 minutes of driving, Olivia had fallen asleep. Chase decided now would be a good time to head to his apartment in Charlotte. With Liv asleep, he could call Austin and Ty without her arguing about it.</p><p>“Hey, Chase man? Why are you calling me so late?” Came the voice of Austin Dillon, the older of Liv’s two brothers. </p><p>“Hey, hope I’m not interrupting but thought I’d call you. Seeing as Olivia texted me begging to call her. Then when I got to her house she came running out with a duffel bag and shoes in hand. Not to mention she has a handprint across her face and she passed out in my truck bawling.” Chase explains the phone pressed to his ear as he pulls into his parking lot. </p><p>“WHAT.” Is the response he hears. Clothing moving around follows before, “TY GET SHOES ON WERE GOING TO CHASE’S.” </p><p>Chase chuckles sliding out of his truck. He tucks his phone between his shoulder and ear as he closes his door.</p><p>“Yeah man, y’all come over. I’m hopin’ she’ll tell us what happened,” Chase opens his passenger door and gently picks Olivia up. She squeaks a bit in her sleep and nuzzles her face into the shoulder opposite his phone. He shuts his door as he continues, “she has a handprint on her face. I guarantee it bruises… you know her.” Chase can hear the hitch in Austin’s breath.</p><p>“We’ll be there soon Chase,” there is a pause as he hears a vehicle door open and close, “but we have to make a pit stop first.”</p><p>“Don’t do anything stupid,” he pauses for a minute, “or illegal.” Chase hears a vehicle start as the phone call ends. He makes it to his front door and barely manages to keep her in his arms as he gets the door open. He sets her down on the couch before running back out to his truck. He grabs her bags and brings them into the house. </p><p>Setting the two bags down next to the tv console in the living room he glances up at Olivia. With a soft smile, he drapes the quilt his mom made him over her before he makes his way to the kitchen. Knowing when Olivia wakes up she’ll need a hot chocolate to keep her calm enough to explain what happened. </p><p>Deciding it’s worth the extra effort and time for her Chase decides to make it from scratch. He pulls a pot out from the cupboard to the left of his stove and places it on the small front burner. Grabbing the milk he sets it down next to the stove before heading to his pantry across the kitchen. Pulling out his cocoa powder and a bar of chocolate he paces back to the stove.</p><p>While waiting for the milk to come to a boil he pulls four mugs out of his cup cabinet. Each is standard 12 oz. sized, two are plain black, one is plain navy blue, then the last one is a ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ themed one. Olivia brought it over one weekend almost a year ago for a movie night and she’s left it here for when she comes over. Placing two pieces of the chocolate bar into the bottom of the mugs Chase turns his attention back to the pot as the milk begins to boil.</p><p>Bringing the milk down to a simmer he adds the cocoa powder as his phone vibrates on the counter.</p><p>‘Pulling into the driveway.’ Is what Austin texts him. Chase responds with a quick, ‘door unlocked.’ Before going back to his work over the stove. Making sure to continually stir to not burn anything he hears the front door open and the sound of quiet steps. After a few moments both Dillon boys made their way into the kitchen, shoeless and quiet. The younger Dillon, Ty, had a sour-looking face. While the elder, Austin, had a shit-eating grin upon his features. </p><p>“Should I be preparing bail for the two of you?” A quick chuckle from Austin has Chase grimacing.</p><p>“Nothing that bad.” Ty voices leaning onto his forearms on the island in Chase’s kitchen. </p><p>“We just left his car in a non-ideal condition.”</p><p>“I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere for a while… unless he has the money for a new vehicle outright.”</p><p>Chase chuckles at this. “And if we have anything to say about it he’s going to owe Olivia a good deal of money from hitting her.” He comments as he turns the burner off prepping to pour the hot cocoa into the mugs. Letting the pot sit for a moment he reaches into the cupboard above the fridge, where he keeps his sweets for the most part. He then pulls a bag of mini marshmallows down.</p><p>Of the three men standing in the kitchen, not one of them heard the soft-footed young lady pace into the kitchen. With a yawn leaving her lips all three men turned to look at her. </p><p>“Hi.” She squeaks walking up to Ty, the closest to her, and letting him pull her into an enveloping hug.</p><p>While Olivia is greeting her brothers, Chase pours full mugs of hot cocoa. Adding mini marshmallows to Olivia’s, before offering them around. Accepting the hug before Olivia takes her mug Chase places the now-empty pot into the sink. </p><p>“Couch?” He inquires, grabbing his own mug off the counter. They all make their way over to the living room. Olivia curls up on one end of the couch leaning on the arm with feet up and arms on knees holding her cup. Ty sits on the other end of the couch left foot propped on his right knee. Austin and Chase take up the two chairs left in the room. Chase in the chair closer to Olivia, and Austin closer to Ty.</p><p>“Do we have to talk about this,” Olivia mumbles into her mug as she prepares to take a gulp of her hot cocoa. She keeps her mouth around the one side of the mug with her eyes peeking over the other side. All of the boys stared at her.</p><p>With a soft face and a gentle smile, Chase speaks up, “You don’t have to tell us everything. But can you just give us the gist?” The room was silent for a moment before Olivia took in a deep breath and started. </p><p>“So over the past three-ish months, I’ve ended up coming home in one of y’all’s shirts. Since I tend to be wearing my work uniform and it's uncomfortable and y'all are my brothers. Instead of telling me that was makin’ him upset or asking me why I was wearing a men’s shirt, he kept it to himself. And I guess he decided that meant I was cheating,” Olivia pauses to take a deep shaking breath before pushing on. “So he got drunk and slept with a girl, guess he liked how it felt and did it again. And I knew he was doing it cause I could smell her perfume in our bed. And today I walked in on him doing it. Wasn’t ashamed or anything, just finished. Then casually helped the girl get dressed and got her water before walking her to her car. Came back in and started blaming me for everything.” At this point her eyes are watering so bad she’s shy of crying. “We started yelling and he hit me. That’s when I texted y’all.”</p><p>The boys sat in silence taking everything in. The first to move is Ty who shifts on the couch to wrap her in a hug. At first, she shrugs and wiggles trying to throw him off until she gives in and sips her cocoa while he hugs her. Austin shows her a look of sympathy, while Chase is trying not to laugh even with a look of anger on his face. </p><p>“Get off you lump,” the quiver in her voice gives away how she’s really feeling. Ty lets her up and just leaves an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Austin moves over to the other side of her and wraps his arm around her too. Feeling a little awkward Chase just decides to speak up.</p><p>“Well you know I’m not here at this house all that often and I’ve got a couple of empty rooms. So you’re more than welcome to move in here.” He’s got a small smile across his mouth as he says it. </p><p>“Thanks, Chase. I’ll take you up on that offer if you don’t mind.” Olivia sighs smiling a bit. She takes another sip of her hot cocoa relaxing back into the sofa, calm for the first time in hours.</p><p>“Thank you, Chase,” Ty adds as he sits up looking at Chase and pulls his arm off of her shoulders. “When do you want to go get your things from the house?” He questions directing his gaze at Olivia.</p><p>Scrunching up her nose Olivia takes a minute to think. While doing so she finishes off her cocoa. “Could we grab everything Thursday? I know y’all leave that night but I can’t get out of work any day this week and I want to make sure I get everything.” She finishes with an evil quirk to her mouth. </p><p>The boys look at each other with worry in their eyes. “Why’d you say it like that?” Austin questions.</p><p>“I still have the receipts for every item I have purchased in that household. We are taking everything that I have proof I have purchased. And he won’t be able to argue it in a court of law.” The Cheshire-like grin spread across her face in a way that made all three men uncomfortable.</p><p>“That slightly terrifies me, but I’m glad you did that. Should I assume we’re taking most of the things in the house?” He continues the conversation. With the same smirk across her face, Olivia nods her head.</p><p>“We’re gonna need a trailer,” is all she says.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Let Me In?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>- Erik Jones -</p><p> </p><p>Hey, so can you come by the place in the next hour and get an overnight bag. I have a guy coming over tonight and I’d like the place to myself.</p><p>That text is what led to me driving home on my lunch break instead of eating. Rereading the text my roommate sent me for the third time I cuss again. This is the fourth time this month she’s done this to me. We share a two-bedroom apartment and since our bedrooms share a wall and the walls are paper thin she never wants me there. Plus, they get loud.</p><p>This also means that most of our friends have already been nice enough to let me crash at their place in the last couple of months, and I really don’t want to start asking people for a second time. As I pull into the parking lot to our building I get my phone out to scroll through my contacts, after I text Anna.</p><p>I will try to find somewhere to crash tonight. I’ll let you know by 5 what’s up.</p><p>With that I turn my car off and head up the stairs, still scrolling to see if I can find someone to ask to let me crash at their place. Three flights of stairs and one long-ass hallway later I reach my apartment.</p><p>I always find somewhere else to sleep when you want the place to yourself.</p><p>I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. I haven’t asked for the place to myself in over eight months. I just ignore it as I grab a backpack and load in two shirts, a pair of shorts, a pair of pants, clean panties, and a bra. I already have toiletries in the bag with how often I’ve had to use it. With a final decision, I text Erik. </p><p>Hey man, I’ve got a question… a favor really…</p><p>Zipping my bag up, after adding some knee socks and a hoodie, I throw it over my shoulder. I grab the book off of my nightstand and my laptop before heading out of the apartment. Door locked and everything situated in my bag or arms I head back to work. ‘I’ll need to get food at some point today.’ My phone starts going off, I answer quickly.</p><p>“Hey, Carlie what’s up?” Erik’s smiling face greets me as I accept his facetime. It looks like he’s at work, signing stuff.</p><p>“Jones Boy… do you have plans tonight?”</p><p>“Not that I know of. Carlie…” He pauses sighing as he pinches the bridge of his nose, “You need a new damn roommate. Yes, you can crash at mine tonight.”</p><p>“You are an actual saint. I’ll cook, I’ll stay out of the way.” I pause with a quick scrunch of my nose and a sad smile as I see him roll his shoulder. “I’ll give you a shoulder rub.”</p><p>He breaks out into a smile. “If all I have to do is supply you with a bed to get spoiled I should give you a spare key and see what that gets me.” He jokes.</p><p>“But really, thanks, man. I’ll let you know when I get off work.” He gives a sassy salute and hangs up. Pulling into the parking lot at my job I slide out and make my way back to my office.</p><p>I found a place A. </p><p>The rest of my day I focus on filling out all of the paperwork that I need to get done. Though I do end up thinking about food more and more as the day goes on. About two hours later I get a text from Anna.</p><p>Thanks. I know I say it all the time but I owe you. </p><p>I huff, yeah right. Like you said, all the time. She tells me all the time that she owes me but never actually carries through on the statement. As the end of the work, the day wraps up it gets harder and harder for me to concentrate. My stomach almost constantly makes noises.</p><p>Hey, I know you said you’d make dinner tonight. But do you just want to go out for food? I skipped lunch and am starving.</p><p>I had to laugh, of course, Erik didn’t eat lunch today. My stomach grumbles again. At least we have the same thought.</p><p>I skipped lunch to grab my stuff from the apartment, so I am down for getting food out.</p><p>With the clock just minutes from five pm I began closing down my programs and packing up my things getting ready to head out. Just as I was preparing to text Erik on where to meet for dinner he face-timed me. I sigh, why was it always a facetime and never simple calls.</p><p>“Hey Erik,” I cheerfully answered his call. </p><p>“Carlie, so… please tell me you’re down for some chicken wings,” Erik’s voice had a slight pleading tone to it. I had to laugh.</p><p>“You know I never say no to chicken, in any form,” I chuckle, purse on shoulder and keys in hand. “Where am I meeting you?”</p><p>“Hooters” Erik gives a little shrug to his shoulders.</p><p>“Sounds good to me. The one up near Concord or the one here in Charlotte?” Walking out of the building I keep my voice down knowing there were people still working in their offices. </p><p>“I’m already on my way into Charlotte, plus I live closer to that one,”  Erik says as he places his phone on the holder on his air vents. I really should yell at him for facetime and driving, but I know he won’t look at the screen while the vehicle is moving. </p><p>“Alright. I’m going to end up there first. Do you want me to wait in the parking lot or go on in and get us a table?” I place my phone on my lap as I start my car. </p><p>“If you want to go in and get drinks and apps while I get there that would be appreciated.” </p><p>“Only if we split cheese fries,” I smile through the sentence.</p><p>“Deal. I’ll see you when I get there. Let me know where you get sat.” He says reaching for the phone to hang up.</p><p>“What do you want to drink?”</p><p>“Sweet Tea please,” Erik says, actually hanging up this time.</p><p>I pull out of the parking lot and head off to Hooters. The fifteen-minute drive felt like less with how much I was looking forward to this. I couldn’t tell if I was more excited about the food or to see my friend. I haven’t seen him in almost three months.</p><p>As if on autopilot I put my car in park and made my way into the restaurant. Smiling and approaching the host stand I glance around the place to see where we can get a table out of the way.</p><p>“Hi, welcome to Hooters just you tonight?” The young man at the podium asks.</p><p>“No sir, I have another one coming. Do you think we can get a table in a corner, preferably towards the back of the place?” I ask politely.</p><p>“Of course. Driver, ma’am?”</p><p>“Yes sir.” With that settled, I follow him back to the table. No one at any of the tables nearby. Once I’m seated I slip my jacket off and get comfortable. Just in time for the waitress to come over.</p><p>“Hi, I’m Courtney. I'll be your waitress tonight. Can I start you off with a cocktail dear, maybe some fried pickles?” The waitress asks. She looks about the same age as me.</p><p>“No thanks hun, I’ve got driving to do. Just a Mountain Dew for me please, and can I get a sweet tea for my friend. He’ll be here shortly.” I smile at the waitress.</p><p>“Anything else I can start you off with?”</p><p>“Uh… yeah can we get an order of cheese fries as well. Extra ranch with that please?” I add. The waitress smiles, nods, and walks away jotting down the order. </p><p>The waitress returns shortly with the drinks and plates for the cheese fries. Only a few minutes pass before Erik slides into the booth across from me.</p><p>“Hey,” a simple smile before grabbing his cup and taking a long drink. I know my smile brightens, almost laughing at how quickly he drains half his cup.</p><p>“Work that bad?” I ask, taking another, much smaller, drink from my cup. Just as Erik finishes half of his drink the cheese fries are dropped off, with the second round of drinks.</p><p>“Are you folks ready to order?” Courtney asks. We nod and place their wing orders. Chipotle Honey wings for Erik and Parmesan Garlic for me.</p><p>“Nah, I just have been cooped up signing autographs for about four hours and I forgot to drink or eat the whole time.” Erik smiled at me. That damn contagious smile of his, now I’m smiling too.</p><p>“Well we’re here now so you can relax and not sign thousands of tiny cars for cute little kids,” a mocking tone comes across my voice before taking another drink.</p><p>“So how has work been, I haven’t seen much of you for a while. I was beginning to wonder if you were still around?” Erik comments after taking a sip of his drink. </p><p>“Um… yeah I’ve been putting in extra hours and working overtime so hopefully when my rent ends in two months I’ll have the money to find a place by myself. Hopefully, even buy a house.” I shrug my shoulders hopefully letting off an ‘I don’t care’ air. </p><p>“When does your rent end? I wouldn’t mind having someone to split the utility bills with. And don’t start, if you want to pay rent we can figure out a number. I’m trying to help. I’m all alone in a four-bedroom house. You can definitely occupy two of them if you need.” Erik smirks as he takes the final bite of cheese fries. </p><p>I remain silent for a few minutes to think about it. The waitress comes back to refill their drinks and drop off the wings in the meantime. </p><p>“Well… I would get to see Oscar more,” I emphasize ‘would’ with a smirk, “but let me really think about it. I don’t want to take advantage of our friendship.”</p><p>Erik nods in understanding, “I get that. Just give it a thought. We can talk about rent and make sure you feel like you aren’t taking advantage of anything.” With the understanding and offer out we get to eating our wings. Little small talk ensues we want to eat and get out of our work clothes.</p><p>As we finish up and Erik pays, ’no way are you paying this is making up for how awful your roomie is.’ We head out and I follow Erik home, grabbing my to-go order for lunch the next day. During the half-hour drive back to Erik’s house, I spend the drive listening to the band Driveways.</p><p>Pulling into the driveway next to Erik I take a couple minutes to collect my things. The tote bag with my overnight things and my work satchel with my electronics that sat in the back of my 2010 Ford Taurus. By the time I’m fully out of the car, Erik has the house unlocked and Oscar is outside making a beeline for me.</p><p>“Hi, buddy!” I drop my bags down halfway to the door to crouch down and pet him. Oscar skids just short of knocking me over eagerly licking my outstretched hand. I give him a minute to lick and sniff before I pick up my bed and head into the house. </p><p>I hear Erik upstairs as I shut the door behind Roscoe and me. I head up the stairs with Roscoe running past me up into what I know is the spare room. I follow the dog into the room and find Erik putting blankets onto the bed. </p><p>“You don’t have to make the bed, I can do it,” I shake my head with a smile on my face as I set my things down by the door. He just smiles back laughing as he finishes putting the blankets down.</p><p>“Yeah, but what kind of host would I be then?”</p><p>“Thanks, Erik.” A smile dances across my face. “Now get out I want to put on comfy clothes.” Erik laughs as he leaves my room letting me get changed. By the time I come downstairs, laptop in hand. Erik is already laid out on the couch in sweats and a t-shirt, much like I am. </p><p>“What should we watch?” He sits up as he talks leaving space on the couch for me. Being a little cheeky I decide to sit down and swing my sock-covered feet up onto his lap. With a quick move, he lays a blanket down across the two of us. Oscar quickly climbs up and settles between me and the back of the couch. </p><p>“Where are you in The Librarians?” Erik turns Hulu on and searches up the show. The ‘resume watching’ stops pops up with season one episode seven.</p><p>“Apparently there.”</p><p>“But do you remember what is going on?”</p><p>“Not really.”</p><p>“We can restart,” I suggest. Without hesitation, he moves the cursor over to restart the season. Erik shifts a bit to put his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. Knowing I need to get reports done for work Friday I decide to finish them up while we lay here.</p><p>Nothing much changes for a couple of episodes before I can’t concentrate on the reports anymore, I don’t know who below me messed up so bad, but it’s painful to process. I close the laptop and push it to the floor. Glancing up towards Erik I catch him looking over at me.</p><p>“Everything okay?” Erik pauses the show and raises his eyebrow at me.</p><p>“Yeah, just some people messed up their final draw ups and their reports at work and I need to go through and chart them but I can’t until I fix them or send them back to get revised. It’s just tiring when I get in the groove of getting the info typed in and have to interrupt the flow to chuck one back to them and skip that part of the charts.” I rant for a minute petting Oscar while I do. </p><p>“Don’t worry about it, do it tomorrow,” Erik says through a yawn and stretch. The movement rouses Oscar and he climbs down off of me. An involuntary shiver courses through my body at the loss of heat.</p><p>With a chuckle, Erik pulls himself up with the back of the couch and scooches around to lay down between me and the couch. Once he’s settled he grabs me around the waist and pulls me from my sitting position to lay down with him.</p><p>“Now we watch the show and make awful puns about it until we’re tired. Work is for tomorrow.”</p><p>“Mmmm,” I pause for a moment to mess with him, “I suppose so.” I wiggle down into a more comfortable position. He lays one arm around my waist and the other reaches behind him for the remote unpausing our tv show. I lost track of how long after that I was awake, but I woke up the next morning still on the couch in his arms. Even on the couch that was the best sleep I’ve gotten in ages, I want to feel this way every morning. With a sigh, I get up and get ready for work.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A/N 1: I am so sorry for the length between updates, I’ve been having a rough couple of months.</p><p>A/N 2: Sorry about the abrupt ending (at least it seems this way to me) but expect more from this storyline in a future chapter.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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